Contents:
- 1.0 Background
- 2.0 Discovering and acquiring films
- 3.0 Film and video digitization
- 4.0 Website Infrastructure
- 5.0 Metadata
- 6.0 Preservation
- 7.0 Advertising and Outreach
- 8.0 Evaluation
- 9.0 Appendices and links
- 10. Works cited and bibliography
This guide describes how the Folkstreams project selects, acquires, digitizes and provides access to documentary films about American folk or roots cultures. It addresses selection criteria, copyright permissions, digitization workflow, website development, metadata produced, general preservation issues regarding film and videotape, how it evaluates its access outreach and includes a complete bibliography. The information originated in 2007 but was updated in 2010.
Although titled ‘best practices for film digitization’ this guide actually provides guidance on how to establish and exploit a documentary folklore moving image collection on a relatively small scale while still following standard norms and practices. Its inclusion of the pros and cons weighed in the decision making at each step is particularly valuable. Its approach is not overly complicated and thus it is especially useful for small and medium sized heritage institutions looking for guidance when establishing any moving image collection.